Though it has gone largely unremarked by supporters and opponents
alike, John Kerry has an extraordinary Senate record as an
investigator and overseer of some of the government's most
controversial, complex and secretive activities.

He has repeatedly exposed abuses of the government secrecy system,
and has often prevailed in overcoming unwarranted secrecy.

One high point of his Senate career is his chairmanship of the
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, which culminated in a 1200
page final report in 1993.

Perhaps it is a sign of the anemic state of American democracy that
this monument of government accountability is out of print and
forgotten. But it is a remarkable document -- lucid, passionate
and decent.

Among other things, the Committee report is a testament to the
power of openness and declassification and to clarify and to heal.

The Kerry Committee's achievements included "the most rapid and
extensive declassification of public files and documents on a
single issue in American history" as of 1993.

A decade before the 9/11 Commission wrestled with the White House
over access to the President's Daily Brief, members of Senator
Kerry's committee sought and gained limited access to PDBs in the
first Bush Administration.

"Nothing has done more to fuel suspicion about the government's
handling of the POW/MIA issue than the fact that so many documents
related to those efforts have remained classified for so long,"
the Kerry Committee report concluded.

"The Committee believes that its legacy will be that it removed the
shroud of secrecy which for too long has hidden information about
POW/MIAs from public scrutiny."

Though it pulled few punches and displayed a willingness to find
fault with individuals and agencies inside and outside of
government (and to praise others, such as then-Secretary of
Defense Dick Cheney), Senator Kerry's Committee was still able to
function effectively on a bipartisan basis.

Of course, the policies of a hypothetical President Kerry cannot be
reliably predicted based on the practices of Committee Chairman
Kerry.

But it is noteworthy that as a Senator, Kerry demonstrated an
exceptionally vivid understanding of the pitfalls of executive
branch secrecy and the essential function of government
accountability in a democracy.

The executive summary of the 1993 Report of Senator Kerry's
Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs may be found here:

The documented increase in government secrecy under President Bush
is partly driven by the heightened state of security associated
with military action and the threat of terrorism. But it also
reflects a seeming disdain for public deliberation and official
accountability that predates September 11, 2001.

The President's secrecy policies are within the parameters of the
law and the Constitution -- with the exception of the refusal by
the CIA and the Justice Department to release historical
intelligence budget information, which violates the Constitutional
statement and account clause, we believe.

But Bush Administration secrecy places a premium on strong
executive branch authority at the expense of congressional
oversight, freedom of information and even such mundane things as
making the President available to answer questions from the press.
As a result, the character and the possibilities of citizenship
in our democracy are increasingly constrained.

In a small but telling example, the telephone directory for the
Department of Defense, which for many years used to be for sale at
the Government Printing Office Bookstore, has been deemed "for
official use only" in the Bush Administration and is no longer
available. A wall between the public and its government that did
not previously exist has now been erected.

(The White House's own telephone directory is also stamped "for
official use only," though it may be purchased by anyone for $35
from the private Bureau of National Affairs. Meanwhile, the
Department of Energy, which handles information and materials as
sensitive as any in government, makes its telephone directory
available on the web.)

Many of the Bush Administration's official policies and
pronouncements on secrecy may be found here:

A recent, mostly critical discussion of Bush Administration secrecy
policy is presented in "Groups raise concerns about increased
classification of documents" by Gregg Sangillo, National Journal,
October 23: